#edtravis

[bunkershotgolf]

Callaway Apex Black Irons

By ED TRAVIS

Callaway Golf has brought to market a Black Plasma PVD finish model of the Apex 21 irons targeted for play by better golfers looking for a distance category iron.

Fast Facts Callaway Apex Black Irons Better-player distance category Forged 1025 steel body Cavity back A.I. designed Flash Face Cup Tungsten weighting Interior urethane microspheres Stock shafts: True Temper Elevate, UST Recoil Dart Black 75 Stock grip: Golf Pride Z Grip Soft (Black) Available at retail Sept. 9, 2022 $215 each steel shaft $229.28 each graphite shaft

WYNTK Apex has been Callaway’s better-players distance model for several years and they have now added a version with a good-looking black plasma finish of PVD. The good news is all their custom steel shafts are available without and upcharge, however graphite shaft options may be ordered at their standard upcharges.

The preceding Apex model with a chrome finish has a price of $185 each or $30 less than the Black Plasma PVD.

[bunkershotgolf]

Mizuno M.Craft OMOI Forged Putters

By ED TRAVIS

Premier iron-maker Mizuno Golf introduced the heavy headed M.Craft OMOI putter line as they work to broaden appeal to golfers from just irons to the entire bag including an earlier announcement of two new drivers.

Fast Facts Mizuno M.Craft OMOI Putters Three models: OMOI #1 and #2 blades, OMOI #3 mallet Forged milled 1025 mild carbon steel heads Two 8-gram sole weights Optional weights: 3 and 13 gram Choice of finishes: Double Nickel, Bold Blue Ion, Intense Black Ion Stock shaft: KBS Tour Black Stock grip: Lamkin OMOI Sink Fit Pistol At retail March 17, 2022 $349.95

WYNTK ThoughMizuno has been selling putters for years the new M.Craft OMOI models are a major effort to take a bigger piece of this part of the equipment market. Their reputation in irons may translate very well for them in the minds of golfers looking to buy a new flat stick.

Stability through impact is the major reason use of a lighter shaft and grip which allows more of the putter’s total weight to be in the head which is the same logic of using 8-gram weights in the sole with the option of going as high as 13 grams.

In general, modern putters’ weight are about 350 grams in weight with mallets being somewhat heavier but the OMOI #1 (¾ shaft offset) and #2 (full shaft offset) blades tip the scales at 370 grams with the #3 (full shaft offset) being 383 grams. A lot more than usual but also a reasonable way to keep the head stabile when it hits the ball giving benefits in both direction and distance control.

“Our testing showed that locating more of the overall club weight in the head provided more consistent face rotation through impact,” says Mizuno’s Director of R&D David Llewellyn. “We’ve added up to 28g depending on the model, without increasing size or losing the precise feel of the original M.CRAFT. Plus, unlike most MOI orientated putters – the new OMOI also give incredible feedback off the face.”

[bunkershotgolf]

Stealth Carbonwood Drivers by TaylorMade

By ED TRAVIS

TaylorMade Golf has announced the Stealth Carbonwood driver family with a totally new and unique face, one made of carbon fiber rather than titanium as other drivers and offering what the company says are significant performance advantages.

Fast Facts TaylorMade Stealth Drivers 60X carbon fiber face Polyurethane face covering Twist Face Sole slot Carbon fiber crown Asymmetrical sole aerodynamics Adjustable hosel Available Feb. 4, 2022 Stealth Game-improvement category Stock shafts: Fujikura Ventus Red 5, Aldila Ascent Red 60 Stock grip: Lamkin Crossline 360 Black/Red $579.99 Stealth HD  Draw bias game-improvement category Stock shaft: Fujikura Air Speeder 45 Stock grip: Lamkin Crossline 360 Black/Red $579.99 Stealth Plus Low spin better-player category Stock shafts: Project X HZRDUS Smoke RDX Red 60, Mitsubishi’s Kai’li White 60 Stock grip: Lamkin Crossline 360 Black/Red $599.99

WYNTK TaylorMade Golf, a longtime leader in club technology, says their research has shown driver faces using titanium have reached its performance limit and a new approach was needed. Now as a result of some 20 years of research by their scientists and engineers a material previous thought to be unsuitable, carbon fiber, is the replacement.

The company is calling it the dawn of the age of the Carbonwood.

Brian Bazzel, Vice President Product Creation was quoted, “In the mid-2000’s, our Research team developed an understanding that the weight of the face can affect impact efficiency, more specifically, the lighter the face, the more efficient the impact and the better the ball speed. We realized Titanium faces could only take us so far and carbon would be the face material of the future. This breakthrough design of a lightweight carbon face in Stealth, has created a whole new starting line, a new era of drivers, a new threshold of performance and a new platform for more innovation.” 

Because usually carbon fiber will not hold up when used in a driver the new face is composed of 60 layers of fiber so it will withstand the forces generated by the impact of a driver and ball. To create a texture on the face a layer of polyurethane is applied which also has score lines to control spin when conditions are wet. And even though they were able to increase the face size because carbon fiber weighs less than titanium the saved weight was repositioned to improve Stealth performance.

The Stealth’s carbon fiber face is a distinctive red color, so it won’t be mistaken for any other company’s driver, but the white crown of the past few TaylorMade models is now a conventional black.

Of note the Stealth Plus for professionals and low handicap amateurs has a sliding 10-gram weight in the sole to adjust ball flight for those with higher swing speed.

[bunkershotgolf]

TSR Fairway Woods from Titleist

By ED TRAVIS

Three new fairway wood models under the TSR brand have been announce by Titleist. They address the needs of different types of players and all feature weight distribution encouraging high launch with added forgiveness.

Fast Facts Titleist TSR Fairway Woods Open hosel for reduced weight and deeper CG Face-centered center of gravity Stock shafts: Hzrdus Red CB, Tensei AV Blue, Hzrdus Black, Tensei 1k Black Stock Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Available Sept. 23, 2022, $349 Titleist TSR2 Fairway Wood Game-improvement category High launch mid spin Carpenter stainless steel head Adjustable sole weight Titleist TSR2+ Fairway Wood Better-player category 13° loft only Mid/high launch mid spin Carpenter stainless steel head Adjustable sole weight Titleist TSR3 Fairway Wood Better-player category Mid/high launch low spin 5-position movable sole weight

WYNTK The latest fairway woods from Titleist deserve a couple of comments. As was true with the price increase in the TSR Driver, compared with the previous models the prices of the TSR Fairway Woods are $50 higher, $349 versus $299. In today’s golf equipment market that is in line with anticipated changes from other makers.

Note the TSR 2+ has a wider profile and being available with only a 13° loft it can be thought of as a driver with lots of loft suitable for high swing speed players. Also interesting is the TSR3 has a movable rear weight with a design making use of a rail with five positions which means shifting the tendency for ball curvature from straight to a fade bias to a draw bias will be easy and quick.

In the press release for the new TSR Fairway Woods Josh Talge, Vice President, Titleist Golf Club Marketing was quoted, “Our number one goal was to optimize the CG (Center of Gravity), and it is now as low as it has ever been on a Titleist fairway metal. The lower the CG, the higher the launch. We want to get the weight down, so the golfer can get the ball up. By lowering the CG in each model through our Open Hosel Construction, we also improved the overall performance, including speed, launch angle, spin, flight, feel and forgiveness. Golfers want to see the golf ball get up in the air with their fairway metal, and with the new TSR we achieved that goal.”

You’ll notice that the label for Titleist’s new TSR series of non-drivers I have used is “Fairway Woods” though the company has tagged them “Fairway Metals” or just plain “Fairways.” When writing about this type of metal-headed club primarily not used off the tee I can sometimes force myself to type just plain “Fairways” but my fingers all but refuse to peck out Fairway Metals…so there, I’m old fashioned and admit it and at the same time understanding that may put me out of step with many of you.

[bunkershotgolf]

Vokey SM9 Wedges from Titleist

By ED TRAVIS

Titleist’s Vokey Wedge division, whose wedges are the most played on the PGA Tour have replaced the SM8 model with the new SM9 featuring additional customization options.

Fast Facts Vokey Design SM9 Wedges Version 9 of Spin Milled Vokey Design Three stock finishes, Raw finish option More weight in topline to raise CG CG forward, in front of face Progressive hosel length Six sole grinds Lofts: 46° through 62° Stock shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold S200 Stock grip: Tour Velvet 360 White At retail March 11, $179 each

WYNTK The Vokey division of Titleist has expanded their wedge line, which is already the most played on the professional tours, with customizations now available in the new SM9 series starting with the finishes. There are three stock finishes, Jet Black, Tour Chrome, and Brushed Steel with an optional Raw finish for an additional $46.

Grooves have undergone an upgrade as well with a new Spin Milling process that includes microgrooves designed to enhance distance and spin control. Customizations include toe engravings, character stamping and paint filling.

Chief Designer Bob Vokey said of the new wedges, “It is important to fit your wedges to your swing type, style of play and course conditions. That selection process should begin by determining the proper grind for the shots you hit most. The correct grind provides the best turf interaction, contact and shot performance.”

[bunkershotgolf]

Titleist Drivers, Putters and Balls Win Most on PGAT

By ED TRAVIS

The 2021-2022 season of the PGA Tour has been completed with a come from behind win by Rory McIlroy at the Tour Championship and the Titleist brand came out as the most played drivers, putters, and balls for the year.

The 47-event schedule had 48 winners (the Zurich Classic is a two-man team event) with several multiple victors in addition to McIlroy who won a total of three times and World Number One Scottie Schaeffler with four. Unfortunately, in the view of some, drama on the course was at times out shone by drama off the course as the LIV Golf series began play and signed several top stars from the PGAT.

What we can report though is Titleist drivers were used the most frequently by winners of 16 events edging out TaylorMade Golf with 14. Callaway Golf could claim nine winning drivers, Ping seven and Srixon two.

Titleist also takes the honors with their Scotty Cameron putter brand with an impressive 21 victories using them followed by Callaway Golf’s Odyssey brand with 15. Ping and TaylorMade Golf each had five wins while Bettinardi notched two.

The other closely watched category of equipment is golf balls and here also Titleist came out on top. Their Pro V1 or Pro V1x were used for 32 wins while Callaway’s Chrome Soft X had seven, TaylorMade TP5x five and Srixon Z-Star XV four.

We track this information purely for its interest value since after the individual players performance, the number signed to each company’s endorsement contracts is the most important. The obvious value to equipment companies is the publicity of their equipment being seen by fans with the assumption that recreational golfers will want to play what the pros play.

[bunkershotgolf]

Tour Edge Exotics 722 Metalwoods

By ED TRAVIS

Capitalizing on the success of last year’s 721 metalwoods Tour Edge Golf has updated them in the Exotics 722 family with the game-improvement category E (Extreme) series and batter-player category C (Competition) series.

Fast Facts Tour Edge Exotics 722 drivers E722 Game-improvement category 460cc clubhead Ridgeback design carbon fiber crown Diamond Face VFT Tech 30g back weight Adjustable hosel +/-2° At retail March 5, 2022, $399.99 C722 Better-player category 445cc clubhead Ridgeback design carbon fiber crown Adjustable sole weights Adjustable hosel +/-2° At retail March 5, 2022, $429.99

WYNTK The Exotics E722 driver has extremely high stability and resistance to twisting (MOI); Tour Edge says its 18% higher than the previous model. This makes it easy to hit but the newbie also incorporates a couple of notable technologies.

First is the Ridgeback design of the crown which incorporates a center strip of titanium running from the front to rear and flanked by large panels of carbon fiber. The titanium doesn’t stop at the rear of the crown but continues around to the sole where it connects with a sole rail. Not only was weight saved versus previous designs which could be redistributed to help the forgiveness of the E722, but it also allowed the addition of a 30-gram backweight to improve ball launch characteristics.

The smaller headed and more expensive Exotics C722 driver uses the Ridgeback design but also has front and back sole weights to dial in both the MOI and spin rate. Standard positioning is a 20-gram weight in the back and 5-gram in the front, but the optional weight kit has 10, 12.5 and 15-gram weights.

Company founder and President David Glod commented about the new 722 drivers, “We hit a really nice groove with 721, so the 722 design goals were all about optimizing everything we could in the design phase,” said Glod. “This meant putting our focus on optimizing CG, spin and M.O.I. for every player, adding launch without adding spin, adding some really cool adjustability that will be vital to our tour efforts, all while improving on our industry leading sound and feel. We nailed every design goal and it’s showing up in the testing across the board.”

Also announced at the same time were the Exotics E722 and C722 fairway woods priced at $249.99 and $299.99 respectively plus E722 ($229.99) and C722 ($249.99) hybrids. New for this year, all have adjustable hosels and Tour Edge’s RyzerSole for easy launch with low spin and less turf drag.

[bunkershotgolf]

Launch Pad Woods & Irons from Wilson

By ED TRAVIS

The new Launch Pad woods, hybrids and irons for men and women from Wilson Golf are targeted for play by recreational players looking for added distance and straighter shots.

Fast Facts Launch Pad Woods & Irons Super game-improvement category Woods, hybrids and irons Men’s & women’s models Available March 14 Driver $349.99, Fairway woods $219.99 Hybrids $199.99 Iron sets $749.99 steel shafts, $849.99 graphite shafts

WYNTK Wilson has reiterated their commitment to recreational players particularly those with swings that can use some help with distance and straightness by introducing a reworked version of 2020’s Launch Pad family of woods, hybrids and irons.

The irons have a wide sole, so they don’t have as much a tendency for the chunks since they will not dig into the ground as readily and the center of gravity has been lowered compared to the previous version to give a higher trajectory. The lightweight driver has a lots of draw bias weighting and a closed face to help those of us who are slicers hit the ball straighter.

Hybrids come in a 4-hybrid or 5-hybrid loft with an FY club that falls between the usual hybrid and a fairway wood.

In making the announcement of the new line Wilson Golf’s president Tim Clarke said, “Wilson Golf prides itself on our ability to provide the right products for every level of player. From Staff Model to D9 and now the newest Launch Pad range, our products are designed with best-in-class technology to help bring out the best in every individual’s game.”